Relevance: GS-3: Land reforms in India.

Key phrases: Land ceiling, Assocham, Act 1972, Irrigated land, dry land, Individual ownership

Why in News?

• The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) has called for the repeal of agricultural land ceiling laws and allow farmers to grow economically

What is Land ceiling?

• Land ceiling refers to fix the quantum of land held by a family. In simple words, land ceiling can be defined as the process of fixing the maximum limit of land holdings that an individual can own. Ceiling on holding is not a solution for the problem of sub-division of holding.
• The ceiling varies from region to region, depending on the kind of land, its productivity, and other such factors. Very productive land has a low ceiling while unproductive dry land has a higher ceiling limit. According to these acts, the state is supposed to identify and take possession of surplus land (above the ceiling limit) held by each household, and redistribute it to landless families and households in other specified categories, such as SCs and STs

Land ceiling laws:

• The agricultural land ceiling laws were enacted in the 1960s after the abolition of the zamindari system. By 1961-62, ceiling legislation had been passed in all the states and it became one of the controversial measures of land reforms in India. The levels vary from State to State, and are different for food and cash crops. The ceiling on existing holdings varies from 20 acres to 125 acres.
• In Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, it is on the basis of a land holder, whereas in the other States it is one of the bases of a family.
• This limit is also dependent on the type of irrigation facility available for the land. If the land is irrigated for two crops a year (perennially irrigated), the amount of land that can be held is the lowest. If irrigation is available for one crop a year (single crop land), farmers can keep a higher amount of land. If the land is not irrigated (dry land), the limit is the highest.
• The limit of land holding varies from state to state. For example, in West Bengal, the limit on perennially irrigated land is 5 hectares and dry land is 7 hectares. For Haryana, it is 7.25 hectares for perennially irrigated and 21.8 hectares for dry land. In Madhya Pradesh, it is 7.28 hectares and 21.85 hectares, respectively. Some states like Andhra Pradesh have sub-categories within these limits depending on the district where the land is situated. For most states, the ceiling ratio of dry land to perennially irrigated land is 3:1.
• To bring uniformity across states, a new land ceiling policy was evolved in 1971.
• In 1972, national guidelines were issued with ceiling limits as 10-18 acres for best land, 18-27 acres for second class land and for the rest with 27-54 acres with a slightly higher limit in the hill and desert areas.
• Before 1972, the basis of land ceiling was an individual as a unit instead of family. Since 1972, family is considered as the unit of application for land ceilings. And also certain exemptions were allowed for plantations of crops like tea and coffee, Bhoodan Yagya Committees, registered cooperatives, and other bodies
• There were some amendments to the Act in the following decade. But for various reasons, the redistribution of land did not take off in most states, even as the legislation that puts a limit on how much land a family can own continues to remain in force.

Purpose of Land ceiling laws:

• To minimize the inequalities of income, status, facilities and opportunities.
• To ensure that the operation of economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth.
• To give right to adequate means of livelihood for all citizens.

Is these land ceiling law relevant today?

Recently, The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) has called for the repeal of agricultural land ceiling laws and allow farmers to grow economically. He provide various reasons for that like:

• Successful farmers who own land as per the ceiling limits are unable to buy more land and increase their income. Land ceiling laws prevent normal economic growth where efficient producers can acquire more means of production (land) to increase their output. Land ceiling laws prohibit not only owning agricultural land but also leasing such land.
• On the other hand, fragmentation of land is guaranteed due to inheritance. Successive generations must divide the inherited land among the siblings. Each sibling may purchase land up to the ceiling but not more than that.
• Some land ceiling laws, like Maharashtra’s, state that if the farmer builds a tube-well with a pump privately (after 1972), it does not change its categorisation from dry land to irrigated land [Section 2(e)(3)]. This encourages farmers to tap groundwater and carry out improvements on their land. However, if the state government builds an irrigation project near such dry land, the land ceiling laws apply. As a consequence, a farmer holding 21 hectares of dry land (with pump irrigation) has to hand over 14 hectares (roughly 66 per cent) to the state.
• It also called for increasing irrigation infrastructure by focusing on a combination of large irrigation projects and localised water harvesting across irrigation deficient zones, besides micro-irrigation to generate more crop per drop.
• Large infrastructure cost on irrigation: Pump irrigation on individual plots of land is expensive, inefficient, and unsustainable. Groundwater depletion is rampant across the country. Some have prescribed sustainable canal irrigation as an alternative. Declining public investments in irrigation has been pointed out to be a problem by economists.
• Farmland fragmentation: Over the years, the number of farm holdings in the country has increased, but the area under farming has dipped. As a result, not only has the average size of land holding decreased, the share of marginal farmers has risen substantially.

Way Forward:

• Agricultural land ceiling laws have outlived their use. Even if the original redistribution system from the zamindari era was the desired outcome, the time for that has passed. Today, the land ceiling laws are affecting small farmers. The interplay between irrigation and the ceiling laws is just one of the perverse outcomes of such laws. Seven decades have passed since the Republic was established. It is time we repealed these laws and allowed farmers the freedom to grow economically.

Source: The Hindu BL

Mains Question:

Q. What do you understand land ceiling in India? Is it time for India to do away with agricultural land ceiling laws? Illustrate.